Three PFI offices sealed in Shaheen Bagh, Jamia Nagar

Police probe in the role of PFI has revealed that the group set up their offices in different parts of the city, especially in places which have a history of riots such as Trilokpuri and northeast Delhi. 32 members of PFI and SDPI were arrested on Tuesday

New Delhi: Three officesof the now banned Popular Front of India (PFI)were sealed in south Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh and Jamia Nagar, according to a notification issued by the Delhi Police.

The Popular Front of India (PFI ) office at Shaheen Bagh, in New Delhi that was sealed by the security agencies on Wednesday. (Salman Ali/HT Photo)

The police had already secured the offices -- two in Shaheen Bagh and one in Jamia Nagar -- and deployed personnel at the premises so that nobody could tamper with the documents kept there, HT reported on Thursday.

According to the notification signed by Delhi Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora, the three offices were sealed because “it was used for the purpose of carrying out the activities of the PFI and its affiliate authorities, which have been declared unlawful by the Central government on September 27, 20222”.

Delhi police officers said that three properties sealed were offices of PFI, Rehab India Foundation and the All India Imams Council(AIIC).

The Centre banned PFI and its affiliates for five years on Wednesday, accusing them of involvement in Islamic radicalisation and terrorist activities, a move that came after a crackdown on the group’s leaders and office bearers across several states in which nearly 350 people were rounded up. The association has been banned under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, or UAPA, the Union home ministry said in a notification early on Wednesday. In response, PFI said in a statement that it had dissolved itself and asked its members to stop their activities.

Meanwhile, Delhi Police officers said that besides having its headquarters in Shaheen Bagh, PFI had set up offices across the city in places such as Trilokpuri and Seelampur -- areas that have reported communal violence in the past. However, these offices were set up much before the outfit was outlawed by the government.

In Delhi, PFI has been accused of fuelling and funding the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests that went on at Shaheen Bagh between December 2019 and March 2020. According to the police charge sheet filed in the communal riots in north-east Delhi Delhi, some of the key conspirators met at PFI office to plan the riots.

“PFI had created different divisions such as one for Trans Yamuna which included places such as Trilokpuri which has history of commnal violence. There was a separate line of command in Trilokpuri. In fact, one of the people arrested for rioting in 2020 Delhi riots was identified as Danish, who is the PFI secretary of the Trilokpuri unit. Similarly, PFI had a unit in Seelampur. Among the 32 people who were arrested on Tuesday from Delhi include the office bearers of PFI units in such areas,” said a police officer who asked not to be named.